Employees paint themselves into a corner over work refusal

Two Tenneco Canada Inc. employees were suspended after they gave a painting assignment the brush off.

David High and Jose Sousa — long-service employees at the company’s Cambridge, Ont., facility — received a one-day suspension after refusing to do a painting job inside the plant.

On May 20, 2014, High and Sousa were asked by supervisor Manuel Santos to paint inside the plant. While the pair initially agreed, they later refused after learning more detail about the extent of painting that was required. Both High and Sousa had done painting on previous occasions, including the preceding weekend.